After another dislocated pre-season, Wellington Phoenix have settled on a 21-strong squad for the opening rounds of the A-League Men's campaign, elevating two rookies.
Untried youngsters Kurtis Mogg and George Ott, who turned 20 on Friday, have been handed one-year deals to round out the Nix squad.
Both are in Wellington's reserve squad and played together in the city's local league last season for Lower Hutt AFC.
Ott is a striker who topped the goalscoring, while Phoenix reserves captain Mogg, also 20, is a defender.
"These kids give up their lives around the country, leaving their families to come here to fight for the dream of becoming a professional football player, so it's fantastic when you see it happen," Phoenix academy director Paul Temple said.
Wellington will take three injured players across the Tasman when they travel to NSW in early November.
Striker Gary Hooper is three weeks away from training with a calf complaint, while knee injuries will keep defenders Louis Fenton and Sam Sutton out for six weeks. They will miss the November 21 opener with Macarthur.
It's only on arrival that four other players will join up with the squad for the first time.
New signings Luka Prso and loanee Matthew Bozinovski have been Australia-based and unable to get to New Zealand to train.
Nicholas Pennington has been in Italy, waiting for the Phoenix to arrive in Australia before he departs Europe, while Reno Piscopo has also been training in Melbourne.
Australian Associated Press
